Suspending Reality (82 page)

“Me too,” I said, caressing his sweet face. “That was amazing. You’re a great kisser, Jesse…for a dead guy.”

He laughed. “I’m not dead. Please don’t mistake me for one of those walking corpses.”

“Sorry.”

He smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

I kissed his lips again as rays of light passed through the clouds and shone on our faces. “It’s been cloudy all day…until now,” I said when I pulled away and looked at his beautiful, angelic face. 

“See? Even the universe is starting to take notice,” he said, gently weaving his hands through my hair.

I grinned. “Maybe it’s a great and glorious sign that we’re meant for each other.”

“I don’t need signs. I knew it the moment I saw you.” He kissed my lips ever so softly, mesmerizing me as his warm breath hovered there. “Am I everything you thought a vampire would be?”

“Hmm. You’re missing the white, frilly shirt and billowing, black cape,” I retorted.

He smirked. “My mom told me to stay hip with today’s styles and not to wear the cape, no matter how good it looks on me.”

I laughed. “And you’re also missing the slicked-back hair, fake blood, the white-painted face with dark circles, and, last but not least, the plastic fangs.”

“Plastic fangs would make me talk with a lisp. Mine are all natural.” 

I touched his lips. “Wow. I just kissed the most prolific monster in the history of movies and television and lived to tell about it.”

“Hollywood is so confused about us,” he said. “I’m far more layered and complex than they’ll ever know.”

“You don’t have an overwhelming desire to bite me, do you?” I asked with a smile.

“Well…maybe, but not for blood.”

“You can control your bloodlust for me?”

“I’m not saying it’s easy. I feed before work, even though I only need to once a week. My mom has a source who supplies us from a blood bank he works at. Eating every day helps keep me in check. Also, Sam taught me how to keep my urges under control, and Kierra showed me what to do when I feel like I’m going to explode. Mom worked with me a lot to teach me how to be around humans and animals. If I couldn’t keep it under control, I could never work at the zoo.”

“Well, you’re doing a good job fitting in,” I said.

I still didn’t understand how I could crave someone like him, someone who was nothing but trouble. Sure, he was dangerous, wild, and untamed, but I found those qualities intriguing as the unquenchable desire flooding through me whenever I looked at him. My heart beat a million times a minute every time I was around him, but I couldn’t run. Yes, Jesse was a vampire, but I felt safer around him than I’d ever felt with anyone before. 

“I didn’t get this way overnight,” he said. “It was…well, a long process.”

I knew he was telling the truth.
Life is crazy,
I thought,
or maybe it’s just fate.
All I knew was that I’d been thrown a major curveball, and I had no idea what to expect. Jesse was a puzzle, and I planned to put every piece together until I had the full picture of him. I knew I shouldn’t kiss someone so dangerous, someone with such a dark secret flowing through his veins, but our deliciously wicked kiss played over and over in my head, and I simply couldn’t turn away.

Jesse’s thumb grazed my lips as he stared deeply into my eyes. “There must be something wrong with my eyes,” he softly said.

“What? Why?”

“I-I can’t seem to take them off you.”

I smiled widely. He was my addiction, my drug, and no force on Earth could keep me away.
I kissed a vampire…and I liked it,
I thought to the tune of that Katy Perry song. A jolt shot down my spine as I gazed into his eyes, still regarding me with that look that told me he couldn’t stop thinking about our kiss either.

The problem was, Jesse was a vampire, while I was a mere human. Not only that, but he wasn’t just a normal vampire, the Dracula sort or one of those baseball-playing, twinkly ones from the movies. No, my vampire was a rare species, a supernatural wonder who could actually walk in the light. When I really thought about that, I was floored. 

Will we actually make it? I wondered. Truthfully, I had no idea. I still couldn’t fathom jumping into the world of the paranormal, the darkness of vampire legend. I couldn’t imagine anything more dangerous. Then again, I didn’t care, because I couldn’t imagine anything more intriguing either. I knew the high stakes and the risk, but I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything or anyone.

Yes, I knew he was toxic, but sometimes we can’t control what the heart wants—and mine screamed for Jesse with every beat. 

Taylor’s story continues with Book 2:

Crash Amazon Link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HBVTUCK

Crash UK Link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HBVTUCK

The Crush Saga Book Trailer:
http://youtu.be/4eMF8KXEUc4

***

Enchanted Castle

A Novelette

By Chrissy Peebles

Book 1 in
The Enchanted Castle
Series

Copyright 2012 by Chrissy Peebles

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Dedications:

A special thanks to my critique partner, Jayde Scott.

BOOK TRAILER:
http://youtu.be/Ysb6uzIdsEk

Episode 1

Sometimes, what seems to be one’s salvation turns out to be one’s doom. When the brochure for Mount Park Manor arrived in our mailbox, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a fresh start, a place to step away from things and forget about my past. The very next day, I mailed the card back with “Yes” marked in a big red checkmark. About a week or two later, Mom drove me three hours away to take the entrance exam. I was ecstatic when I received the letter telling me I’d been accepted. Two months later, when it was time to leave New Orleans behind, I didn’t cry. I didn’t even look back. I was just relieved to be given a chance at a new life.

The ten-minute wait for the black limousine that would take me from Glasgow Airport to Mount Park Manor gave me a good picture of what to expect; it was a boring place in the boring Scottish countryside, with lots of boring people around me, but I was prepared to blend right in.

As we drove out of the gray city, past green fields that stretched for miles on both sides of the road. We were immersed in semidarkness that wasn’t natural for that time of day, at least not where I came from. I heaved a big sigh and sank into the soft leather seats, stretching my tired legs after the nine-hour flight. I closed my eyes and did a quick mental check, making sure I had everything right, going over my cover story as to why I would have left one of the most beautiful cities behind. And, of course, there were all those made-up childhood memories of a loving family I’d never had.

It was the end of August, when I arrived at Mount Park Manor, with my suitcase in tow. We’d moved at least twenty times in my young life, so I was used to not possessing much. It didn’t bother me at all, because settling down—in New Orleans, Scotland, or anywhere else—was something I never expected to do. It’s not that I wanted to live a rootless, nomadic life, but it was a necessity. Wherever I went, no one seemed to get me. Heck, my own parents didn’t get me, and they’d always preferred to abandon me with some nanny or at a stuffy boarding school while they traveled the globe. After the last incident at my previous temporary school, I no longer felt a need to be understood. I had a new mantra,
The less attention people pay me, the better,
and I was becoming really good at blending in.

The car rolled through the high gates at a leisurely speed. I peered through the rain-stained windows at the imposing building in front of me. I’d assumed we’d be staying in an old house, just a mansion, but as I peered at the four- or five-story building with all those arched windows and tiny towers, I realized I’d be spending the next school year in a magnificent castle. I smiled at the thought of cliques that wouldn’t pay me any attention in such huge, enchanting surroundings, and I hoped I could just blend right in to the ancient woodwork.